Petroleum
According to EIA's Weekly
Petroleum Status Report for the week ending October 28,
2005 (released November 2), U.S. commercial crude oil inventories
(excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) increased
by 2.7 million barrels from the previous week. At 319.1 million
barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories remain well above the upper
end of the average range for this time of year. Total motor
gasoline inventories rose by 1.0 million barrels last week,
putting them in the lower half of the average range. Distillate
fuel inventories inched lower by 0.2 million barrels last week,
and remain just above the lower end of the average range for
this time of year. A decline in high-sulfur (heating oil) distillate
fuel more than compensated for an increase in low-sulfur (diesel
fuel) distillate fuel. Total commercial petroleum inventories
increased by 1.6 million barrels last week, and remain in the
upper half of the average range for this time of year.

Refinery shutdowns in the Gulf of Mexico region total 804,000
barrels per day (bbl/d) as of November 2, 2005. Please consult
the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability's
Situation
Report for specific information on the refineries.

Natural Gas
According to EIA's Weekly
Natural Gas Storage Report for the week ending Friday, October
28 (released today), working gas in storage increased to 3,168
Bcf, which is 2.6 percent above the 5-year average inventory
level. The implied net injection of 29 Bcf was 15 percent less
than the 5-year average of 34 Bcf and 29 percent less than last
year's injection of 41 Bcf. During the report week, cooler-than-normal
temperatures in the New England, Middle Atlantic, and East North
Central Census regions contributed to some temperature-driven
swing demand, which may have reduced injections into working
gas storage. Since Wednesday, October 26, natural gas spot prices
decreased at virtually all market locations in the Lower 48
States, with decreases exceeding $4 per MMBtu, or about 26 to
42 percent, at most markets.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged a number of natural gas
processing facilities on the Gulf Coast. The loss has and will
continue to delay recovery of natural gas production in the
area. Even if platforms and pipelines are either unaffected
or readily restored to service, the gas often can't flow to
market without treatment. In 2003 (the latest year with complete
data), almost three-fourths of total U.S. marketed gas production
was processed prior to delivery to market. A number of processing
plants in Louisiana and Texas, with capacities equal to or greater
than 100 million cubic feet per day, are not active. These plants
have an aggregate capacity of 7.93 billion cubic feet per day
(Bcf/d), and they had a total pre-hurricane flow volume of 4.60
Bcf/d. A number of non-operating plants with a total capacity
of 1.17 Bcf/d are operational, but are not active owing to upstream
or downstream infrastructure problems or supplies being unavailable.
These plants had flowed 0.41 Bcf/d before the hurricanes. A
number of the inactive plants are expected to be operating by
the end of November. Based on current information, the incremental
available capacity as of November 30 will be 2.88 Bcf/d with
pre-hurricane flow of 1.38 Bcf/d. Based on updated company information,
pre-hurricane flow volumes indicate that the average utilization
of the (currently) non-operating plants was roughly 58 percent.

As of November 3, the Louisiana
Office of Conservation has received reports indicating 1,105.8
million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of onshore and offshore
(in State waters only) natural gas production has been restored,
which is 49.5 percent of total production before the hurricanes.
Overall, 2,703 oil and gas wells, or 46 percent of the wells
in the region, reportedly remain shut-in. However, the Office
has not received information on approximately 15.3 percent of
the oil and gas wells in the region. The daily gas production
capacity of the 38 parish region is estimated to be approximately
2,235 MMcf/d, based on the average production reported to the
Office for the period January 2005 to May 2005.